Commodities are often transported from one location to another, especially via train lines or vehicles. Often, it is important to ensure that the commodities are effectively secured during transport to minimize movement of the commodities. Specifically, a railcar experiences lateral, longitudinal, and even vertical movement as the railcar travels. For example, railcars are typically coupled together, and this coupling may cause the railcars to jostle and move erratically. In addition, as a train travels from one location to another, railcars may experience erratic movement, such as when a train accelerates and decelerates, and further due to irregularities in the track. Thus, commodities that are not tied down securely may also move or become jostled, causing damage to the commodities.
Chains and other tie-down assemblies, including links, carabineers, ratchets, and other like apparatuses are typically utilized to attempt to ensure that commodities are tied down securely during transport of the same. Often, chains and/or other tie-downs are either linked to the railcar or vehicle itself and wrapped around the commodity, or linked directly to the commodity and to the railcar or vehicle. It is a goal to tie-down the commodity so that the commodity does not move during shipment.
However, it is often the case that despite the attention to tying down the commodities using chains and/or tie-down assemblies, commodities may shift during transport, which may lead to the development of slack in the chain or tie-down assembly. In such a situation, the commodity may be subject to additional movement or jostling during shipment, potentially leading to damage of the commodity.
A need, therefore, exists for an apparatus that may take up loose slack of chains and tie-down assemblies. Specifically, a need exists for an apparatus to take up loose slack of chains and tie-down assemblies during shipment of a commodity tied down by the chains or tie-down assemblies.
Moreover, a need exists for an apparatus that may effectively be compressed and elongated during compression. Specifically, a need exists for an apparatus that may decompress and shorten when slack develops in a chain or tie-down assembly.
In addition, a need exists for an apparatus that may compress and elongate, and decompress and shorten and having significant strength to withstand substantial compression forces. Moreover, a need exists for an apparatus utilized to take up slack in a chain or tie-down assembly that may be easily linked in-line with the chain or tie-down assembly.
Heretofore, it is known to utilize compression elements in chains or tie-down assemblies that may compress or decompress based on tension applied or unapplied, respectively. However, prior solutions have limited application because only single compressible non-metallic material is used leading to a compressible material that is constant as opposed to variable. This severely limits the properties of the compression apparatus. A need, therefore, exists for a compression apparatus that may be tailored to specific needs. More specifically, a need exists for a compression apparatus that has variable stiffness elements so that the compression apparatus may have better applicability in different tie-down situations.